Understanding Cancer Risk: The Paradox Of Modern Health

It is important to understand risk and why Americans have a particular difficulty with the issue of cancer risk.

This, in part, reflects a unique American belief that we can have control of all aspects of our lives. As a result, any adverse event may be linked to something “we did or potentially could have avoided.” Many patients desperately seek to understand the underlying cause of their cancer, in the hope that they can reverse or control this and improve their chances of survival. It is important to understand the “randomness” of mutational events that often initiate the cancer process and our inability to prevent all cancers. The message we get from the media and even the medical press is that we eventually will be able to explain every cancer that arises.

This is simply not true. And in many cases, “I thought I did everything right!” does not apply. We cannot necessarily identify any specific trigger or cause of many cancers. I believe the identification of tobacco and cancer risk and other less common exposure-related cancers, like asbestos, has in some ways fueled this confusion, as has the constant media attention to the “latest exciting findings” that link some exposure or dietary factor to cancer.